Joaquin wants to go to the party

Last month Joaquin Phoenix told Interview Magazine that he thought the Oscars were full of sh-t. Click here for a refresher. At the time he was considered a strong contender for a Best Actor nomination and many believed those comments f-cked up his chances.

Now Joaquin is not exactly backtracking but...clarifying those comments, telling Australia’s The Age that:

"I know that first of all, I wouldn't have the career that I have if it weren't for the Oscars. I haven't been in a lot of movies that have made a lot of money … And getting nominated for a movie has probably helped my career tremendously. 'I guess I sound like a dick. 'You know what it's like? You sit and you bullsh-t for a couple of hours. You just miss so much of what someone says when it's written down …. Come on, man, you know that it's more complex than that. It's not like I f---ing hate the Oscars … It doesn't occupy my time to where I can build up hate. 'What I was reacting to was sometimes the reverence that we have about these things. I don't want to revere it.''

And apparently at a presser at the Hollywood Foreign Press for The Master, it was a “humble” Joaquin who insisted that he did not mean to insult the Academy. So... did Harvey Weinstein threaten to end his career? Or has Joaquin decided that he does want to go to the party after all?

I believe him when he says he doesn’t care about the awards. Not the way, say, someone like Ashley Greene cares about the awards. Or even Daniel Day-Lewis. DDL wants that award. But for Joaquin, at this point, it’s probably not so much about the award than it is about realising that his nomination honours the project, and therefore the people with whom he worked on the project, including PT Anderson and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and he has expressed overwhelming admiration and respect for both.

As for whether or not his name will actually be called among the five -- I would say yes. He was extraordinary in the film, almost uncomfortably so. And besides, I imagine there would be a few actors in the actors’ branch either fond enough of him to put his name forward for a nomination or maybe just to f-ck with him too, knowing he’d then have to spend the season in a tuxedo being screamed at by photographers.

Here’s Joaquin out hiking the other day with some family members and his girlfriend Heather Christie.